War of the Heart
by Whouffle and Souffles
Summary: [Danny x Clara War AU] When Danny Pink rejoins the army during the time of war, he and Clara struggle to continue their relationship split apart by such a distance. But is there any way that things can get any worse?
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N **__So, here's chapter 1 of my __super angsty__ Pinkwald war AU. Let me know what you guys think, and let me know how to improve, anything you want included, whatever! Hope you enjoy!_

Danny stood and stared into the mirror. He was scared, he felt empty, and all that made today better was that Clara was still by his side. She wouldn't be tomorrow. He felt her fingers lightly move across his collar, nimbly flattening the fabric out and neatening it a little. Clara looked up at him, moving her hands down to hold his, fingers lacing with his. Neither of them spoke for several seconds, Clara looking up at Danny reassuringly as he looked at her with terror in his eyes. Clara was the one who made the first move.

"You're gonna be okay." She whispered softly, giving him a small smile. She was going to miss him, but she was proud. He'd overcome so much to do this all over again. "And I'm so proud of you. Just… Keep your head down." She said, dropping her head to look at the floor. Danny moved at this point, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead. He was frightened of going back to the army, but it had become mandatory. He knew what was going on; he'd been through it all before: a new war. Men were being encouraged to sign up and do their country proud. He knew that he had to sign back up, he'd been in service before and he'd never get away with refusing to go back. However much he'd suffered as a former soldier, as a man who'd come out of the army changed, he had to go back.

"Thank you, Clara Oswald." He smiled down at her, looking back toward the mirror. Danny decided he thought he looked quite smart, almost as if he'd missed the uniform and the way it made him feel. The power it gave him, the respect it earnt him. He didn't feel like he was as much of a man when he wasn't in this uniform. At least now, he had to put the brave face on. Danny squeezed her hand and nodded to her. He was ready to go.

# # #

They stood together at the airport, surrounded by other couples, families, all with men and women dressed in the same uniform, ready to fight. Clara didn't want to let go of her Danny, she was afraid that she was going to lose him forever. She knew what happened in wars, she'd seen them, fought in them, but they were all in another life. Danny had experienced this before. He'd come back alive, Clara _knew _he would. He could get through this again and this would all be over, they'd be happy and safe again.

"S'not gonna be the same without you." Clara said, wrapping her arms around him tightly. She didn't want him to leave; she'd _never _wanted to lose him, even for a minute. Danny would be back before too long, though. Every soldier came back once every three months for a week or two, and Clara couldn't wait for it. "School's gonna be different. No boys in sixth form, no more of you, Adrian, all of our boys… God, I feel so sorry for the year 11 boys. They must be terrified."

Danny smiled a little, knowing how scared she was. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to say, but he didn't want to leave her side until someone dragged him away.

"I love you Clara." He whispered softly, moving to press a kiss to her lips. It was long and tender, filled with passion. Clara returned it just as desperately, not wanting to remove her lips from his, even when she had to breathe. When she finally pulled away, Clara took deep breaths and smiled, laughing a little.

"I'm gonna miss that, too." She pointed out, happy that the two had fallen into their natural relationship once more, rather than being forced into a scared couple, afraid to show any sort of emotion. Now they were just happy to be with each other, both looking like they were teenagers with their first love, only it was so much more than that. Before the war had started, the two had been planning their future together, their lives. Danny was going to ask Clara to marry him; Clara was going to ask if he wanted to think about a family. War didn't just affect the soldiers, but the lives of their families, the lives of people that were yet to be born. Clara still didn't understand why things like this happened, not really. She didn't think she ever would.

"I'm gonna miss you, Clara. More than anything else." He said, taking out his wallet from his pocket and opening it up, showing her the picture of the two of them together. Clara smiled at the photo, taking her purse from her bag and pulling out her own picture. "Emails, letters, whatever you want. Depends how much you wanna hear from me." Danny said jokingly. "I'll send you a message once I arrive, let you know I'm there and safe. I'll write as often as I can, I promise, I'll try and talk to you once every day. They might even have Skype by now." He smiled, moving to press another quick kiss to her lips. "It's not world war two, we've got more than one way to talk now. It'll be like I was hardly gone; this three month's will fly passed."

Danny turned his head to look behind him, people starting to get onto the plane. He took a deep breath and looked down at Clara, putting on a more serious face before offering her a salute. Clara couldn't help but laugh a little, raising her hand to her forehead and giving a mock salute with two fingers. The corners of his lips cracked a smile, before he turned away from her and began to march towards the plane.

The second Danny's back was turned; Clara's eyes began to water. She was scared, and she knew how serious this was. He might never come home again, and this could be the last time she ever saw him. Time froze as Clara watched him walking away from her to join the other soldiers, and she ran up to the barriers, pushing passed families and children waving goodbye to their husbands, fathers, mothers, and sisters. She knew they were just as desperate as she was, but for once, she didn't care. Clara wanted to be at the front and she wanted Danny to see her again. Just one last time. As she got to the barriers, she looked at the crowd of soldiers urgently, trying to find Danny. She couldn't let that be her goodbye to him.

As her eyes finally lay on the man she loved so much, she felt herself choking up with tears. Clara let out a few sobs before she yelled as loudly as she could.

"Danny!" She yelled, noticing that his head perked up slightly at her voice. Even if he couldn't see her, at least he could hear her. "Danny, I love you!" She sobbed, starting to cry properly. Danny wanted to run up to her and hold her until she stopped crying, but he couldn't. He wanted to yell back how much he loved her, but he couldn't. He was a soldier now, not a boyfriend. Danny felt his legs moving him up the stairs of the plane, leaving him cut off from Clara completely. He'd never felt so alone in his life. He'd finally found someone worth holding onto, and he was losing her. As he sat himself down, his fingers scrambled inside his trouser pocket, pulling the photo of them together out to look at one last time. Glancing out the window, Danny caught a glimpse of Clara, sobbing into the barriers. He wanted to cry too, but he couldn't. He slowly brought the picture to his lips and pressed a kiss on it gently, before pocketing it once more. This was goodbye.

# # #

Clara returned to their flat and sat herself on the sofa with a glass of red wine. It may only have been three in the afternoon, but it had already been a long day. She'd just lost Danny, and she didn't know how long for. The wine was a comfort, not one she'd get used to, but one all the same. If nothing else, at least she knew she wouldn't be crying anymore, because all her tears had been shed. All that was left to do now was sit and wait, constantly refreshing her emails, Facebook, texts, waiting for Danny to say he was safe.


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as they landed, Danny rushed to find some sort of internet connection, a computer, anything to put himself in touch with Clara again. He knew his behaviour was going to be frowned upon, that he had to control himself. He was in a warzone now, he had to forget about Clara and focus on staying alive, but he just couldn't let himself do that. Not yet, anyway. He managed to scrape two minutes on the computer, quickly sending Clara an email to tell her he'd landed safely, that he loved her, and that he'd speak to her as soon as he could, however long that may be. It broke his heart that it could be days before he saw her face or heard her voice again, but he'd agreed to fight in the army again, and he knew what it entailed.

# # #

Clara was, of course, still sat at her laptop when Danny's email arrived. If nothing else, she felt relieved that he had arrived safely, and that they hadn't run into trouble on the flight. Many of the squadrons were being shot out of the sky before they even managed to get close to the front lines, which had scared Clara more than she cared to let on in front of Danny. Even though she could tell from his short email and what he said that they wouldn't be able to speak for long, or all that often, she was just glad that every now and then he'd tell her he was safe.

Her mind now at ease, Clara sat back on the sofa, kicking her feet under her legs as she pulled out a pile of marking. With a little hope in her heart that Danny might be given the night off, Clara replied to the email. Maybe he'd be able to have a proper conversation with her, since she was already missing him, but she doubted it.

# # #

The first night away from home was always the hardest. It was last time he went away, and it was again this time. While everyone had tried to appear strong as they left their loved ones, it was clear they were all missing them dearly. The only thing keeping them from eating in a sad silence was the sound of gunshots not too far away, causing everyone to chatter in a desperate attempt to mask the noise. They were all scared, of course. They knew what was happening out there, and even though they had willingly joined the army, they were still terrified. Danny had sat himself with a group of other men, who all seemed to be new to the army. He smiled at them as he sat next to one man and held his hand out to shake, the other man grasping it firmly and introducing himself.

"Second Lieutenant Parson, Jeremy." He said politely, offering Danny a nervous smile back. Danny could tell that the poor man was terrified, lowest ranking too, which meant this would be his first time in deployment after training. No wonder the man was frightened.

"Captain Danny Pink." Danny replied, resting an elbow on the table as he began to eat his meal. The food was worse than he remembered, but this time things were different. There were more people, it was a bigger war. Of _course _the food was going to be worse. He'd been allowed to keep his position as captain from his last few years of service, primarily because the army needed more men in the chain of command, and less second lieutenants.

"Who'd you leave?" He asked, realising that most of the people in the crowded room all had families and loved ones at home. Jeremy smiled a little, looking down at his food. He hadn't touched it, and it didn't look like he was going to any time soon.

"My wife and our new baby - born last week, never been a happier man." Jeremy explained. "She's absolutely gorgeous, looks just like my wife. She's what's keeping me going." He told him, reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone and show Danny a series of photos of his wife and their baby. He couldn't help but smile, seeing the similarities between the two. If he ever got out alive, he promised himself he was going to speak to Clara about this sort of thing. He'd been planning on it anyway, but now, it just seemed like something they had to think about.

"She's beautiful." Danny said, looking over to the man. "You must be very proud, and I'm sure when she's older and you tell her all the stories about what you've done to protect her life, she'll be proud of you too." It sounded a little cheesy, but it appeared to give Jeremy some sort of comforting feeling, knowing that he was protecting his daughter and that she would be proud of him.

"How about you then, who's waiting at home for you?"

Danny smiled at Jeremy's question, just thinking about Clara making him feel like he was falling in love all over again. "My girlfriend and a couple of maths classes. I'm, used to be, a teacher." He told him, and now, it was his turn to take something out his pocket. Pulling out a small box, he showed the man the contents, a beautifully carved emerald stone in the ring. "I've been wanting to propose for a while, but the time never seemed right. I didn't think it'd really be fair on proposing and leaving her behind for 3 months, so when this is all over, I'm gonna ask her to marry me." He said cheerfully, closing the box and slipping it back into his uniform pocket. "Didn't want her finding it in case it ruined the surprise, so I brought it with me. I'm hoping that'll keep me going."

The two men continued to chatter, but Clara was now stuck in the front of Danny's mind. He was already worrying about her, and he just wanted to be by her side once more.

# # #

The next day at school was awfully quiet. Clara's sixth form class were missing half of the students, the boys all having gone off to fight. The staffroom was different, no Danny, no Adrian. The women were all left sitting alone marking quietly, their best friends (and in Clara's case, boyfriend) had gone off to war, and no one was in the mood for talking. The lessons were dull, mainly making posters or watching films to try and lift people's spirits. The people that seemed to feel the worst were the year 11 boys, practically paralysed with fear in every lesson. The fate of their older male peers, and their male teachers, was soon going to become theirs. Already, they were hearing of casualties. Two of the boys from Clara's form had been wounded in a roadside bomb the previous night, which had only made the day worse.

She'd tried to distract herself with marking, but by this point, she was running out of things to mark. Clara decided that it would be best to save the last few essays for a day when she was struggling to cope, when she missed Danny too much. For now, the picture would have to do. As she took it out of her purse to look at the passport sized picture of the two, she felt herself tearing up. Her Danny, she wanted him back. She'd been frightened before, but now that people she loved had already been hurt, it felt closer than ever.

"Danny, please come home…"

**_AN _**_So I hope you liked that chapter! Let me know in the reviews ;-) I'm hoping to keep on top of updating this fic, reviews will obviously prompt me to write more quickly!_


	3. Chapter 3

He'd been there a week and he hadn't spoken to Clara. He'd seen awful things, terrifying things, but not Clara's face. Danny missed her face, the dimples that formed when she smiled, the way her eyes sparkled in the sunshine. So the opportunity to call her and see her again was more than he could ask for. Unfortunately for Clara, time zones meant she was still at school, but that didn't stop her. Things had changed at the school, so a Skype session with Danny would be okay. After all, some of the girls in Clara's English class used to be in his form, so it would be nice for them all to see him again.

Clara set up the webcam to fit the whole class into the screen before she called Danny. Several rings went by, and Clara's heart was in her mouth. Was he okay? Had he been killed? Did he _want _to talk to her? When he answered, the class were shocked by what they saw. Danny had already been injured a little, and they all watched Clara's face turn to worry at the cut on his cheek. Danny smiled at them all, before he began to explain to Clara.

"Road side bomb, a bit of shrapnel hit me. Any closed and you'd have all lost the charming smile of Mr Pink." He teased, trying to keep his spirits up. A few members of the class laughed a little at his joke, but Clara simply looked more worried. "I'm fine though, Miss Oswald. How is my form behaving?" He asked Clara with a laugh. Clara couldn't believe her ears. He was smiling and laughing when all this was going on behind him, she didn't understand how.

"Danny, you almost got blow up and you want to know how your class are?!" She exclaimed in disbelief, before she realised they were all sitting around her.

"Sorry, sorry. They're fine; I'm just worried about you. We _all _are… Two of the boys—"

"I know, I'm their captain." He told her solemnly. His happy demeanour was gone now, and he was looked older, sadder. Clara didn't like it. "Same accident, only they came off worse. Alive, just about. But if they walk again, it'll be a miracle." Danny told the class, looking down. A few members of the form were shocked into silence. No one knew the extent of the injuries of the boys, but now they knew it all became more real. One of the girls started crying, only to be pulled into her friend's arms at the back of the class.

"Should've been me." He mumbled as he shook his head.

"Don't say that…" Clara whispered, as she began to get visibly upset herself. Before Danny could reply, a small explosion in the distance shook his webcam, and he looked instantly more alert. Still, he continued to talk to her.

"Clara, they're kids. Course they should've got shrapnel in their cheeks, I should be lying legless in hospital. It was my fault."

At Danny's words, Clara began to cry gently. She didn't understand how Danny was coping. Another explosion, closer, but still distant, struck fear into her heart. She wanted his three months to be over, so he could be safe and at home, even if it was only for a week. She was scared he wouldn't last that long, not now that they knew how badly hurt people so close to them were. One of the older students in the class came up to Clara and put an arm around her, Clara instinctively burying her head in the girls shoulder. Danny desperately wanted to be with her, to show her that everything was okay and that he wasn't hurt badly, but he couldn't be. As another explosion occurred, an alarm started roaring on Danny's end. Clara looked up sharply and Danny began to apologise.

"I'm sorry, I have to go." He said, several loud explosions being heard. The students all became terrified. They knew what had happened to their friend, to their maths teacher, and now it could happen to someone else they knew or loved. Danny felt awful for scaring his students and Clara so much. "I love you, Clara." He told her, before another explosion struck and the lights at Danny's base went out, the call being ended abruptly.

"Danny?" Clara said, sounding more worried and panicked than before. "Danny? Danny!" She called desperately, pulling away from the student and running up to the computer screen, praying that he'd be there, that it was just a glitch from the projector, but there was no response. Once again, she started to cry. This time, none of her students approached her. They were all as upset as her, and they didn't know how to approach her.

# # #

Clara left school early that day, which in her state, everyone understood. She went home and made herself a hot mug of tea, sitting on the sofa, turning on the news, and keeping her eyes glued to the screen until she had some sort of news about her boyfriend and his camp. It came after several hours, news that the camp was attacked, that bombs had taken out all of their power and several dozen men were injured, with seven dead. There were no names, and that scared Clara more. It meant there was a possibility that Danny was dead. She supposed the only sign that it might not have been him was the fact that she hadn't had a phone call telling her that he'd been killed. Did they do that anymore, though? Maybe so many men died, they didn't bother to call their loved ones about it. With a deep sickness in the pit of her stomach, Clara found herself staring at the television and begging for names to be announced. He'd only been there a week, he couldn't die, he just couldn't.

Even hours later, when the seven men were named, Clara didn't feel any better. She was still terrified, she still felt sick with fear, because he could be injured. They'd said that dozens of soldiers had been taken to hospital; one of them could have easily been him. She realised how selfish she was being, because some of her students were there too. While, thankfully, none of them had been killed, they too could have been in the hospital. Clara had to think about them too, and she had to think about the seven families who had just lost a loved one. One of the names rung a bell, but it was no one she knew.

She didn't stop waiting for news about Danny, and eventually fell asleep on the sofa, the television playing away to an empty room.

# # #

The next morning at school, the whole form seemed to be as groggy and as quiet as her. She hoped it wasn't because of what she'd shown them, what they'd seen when they'd spoke to Danny. Maybe they'd all just stayed up late, rather than worried about someone close to them. She hoped none of them had to go through that, they were all too young to lose anyone. And then, she realised.

"Where's Courtney Woods?" Clara asked, looking around for a sign of the girl. One of the others in the form looked around, realised no one else was going to say, and told her teacher quietly herself. The girl approached Miss Oswald and came to whisper in her ear.

"Her father got killed in the attack last night."


	4. Chapter 4

Clara's heart began to pound as she heard what her student said to her. It explained why she recognised the name on the news last night. One of her students had lost her father. She wanted to say that her heart broke for the girl, that she was truly upset by what had happened, but the truth was that she simply couldn't say that. Her heart had been broken since Danny had left. Now, with each death of someone she knew, it was simply trodden on and crushed again and again. She knew exactly how Courtney felt, though. She'd lost her mother at a similar age, yet in an altogether less horrific accident. She felt as though she had to visit Courtney, to check on her and hopefully see if she could do something to help her. Clara wanted to make sure her pupils were okay, and this was more important than ever before.

The form were silent for a long while. Very little work was done, everything simply sitting and thinking, worrying about their loved ones fighting, checking phones for messages, news reports, anything that could tell them whether or not they were okay. It was something that Clara would often tell them off for, but so much had changed. It would be impossible for her to tell them off.

So while they sat in silence, Clara began to think. She wanted to do something to cheer everyone up; something big enough to take their minds off what was happening for a little while. But no one could take their minds off what was going on, because everyone had someone they loved in danger. So Clara stood up in front of her class and looked at them all with concern on her face, but her eyes glowing with optimism for the first time since Danny had left, a drastic change from how she had left after speaking with him yesterday.

"We're going to have a party." She declared, smiling ever so slightly at her class. "For when everyone comes back on leave. That night, we'll have a party. Everyone that used to work or come to this school who's gone away to fight, and all of us. It'll take our minds off what's going on, and it means that both they and us will have something to look forward to. But don't tell them, let's let it be a surprise for when they arrive back."

Of course, her class seemed rather unenthusiastic at first. After all, with everything that had happened in just the first few weeks of them leaving, they weren't sure that anyone was going to make it back. But, Clara was their teacher, and if nothing else it did sound like something to do. Shakespeare didn't really seem all that important to anyone, even Clara had given up on trying to teach Macbeth. This was more important to her and to the students too. Clara looked at them hopefully and watched as they all started to nod slowly. They still seemed a little unsure, but the fact that they were agreeing was a step in the right direction.

"Right." She said then, her mind being taken off the horrors of what was happening almost immediately as she started to plan things. Logging onto the computer, she sat back in her chair and smiled at her students. The smile was real, knowing that she was going to bring happiness to the people left behind, and those who were going through hell. "I think, first order of business, we need to listen to some music and decide what we're going to play."

Clara got everyone writing down songs on slips of paper, and started pulling them out of a hat to play and chose at random. Before long, almost everyone had started singing along and laughing with their friends, and other classes had come to join to see what all the noise was about. The acting head came in, and Clara thought she was going to be in trouble for not teaching, but instead she joined in, seemingly as happy as the other students were. She couldn't help but be glad that she was doing some good, that people _were _beginning to cheer up a little and warm up to the idea of a party for everyone coming home. In fact, by the end of the day, Clara was sure that the entire school was going to help make decorations, and that everyone was incredibly excited. It felt like, even though the school lacked half the teachers and pupils, things were almost normal again. With laughter and smiles filling the hallways, Clara couldn't remember the last time things had been like this.

# # #

Upon arriving home, Clara sat herself down with her laptop and a mug of hot, steaming, tea. Things felt normal again, and it was odd to feel this way. She didn't want to feel normal when she knew how Danny might be feeling. Hell, he might not even _be _feeling, but she tried her best not to let that bother her. She needed to keep optimistic to keep her pupils happy, even if it killed her. There was still no news regarding the camp, whether the power had come back online or not, but Clara decided to send Danny an email, something to cheer him up when he saw it. But every time she thought about Danny, all she could think of was how worried about him she was. Nothing apart from fear and sadness came to mind. She didn't want him to see how much she was worrying and suffering. Instead, she'd wait for him to be okay and call her on Skype, or send her an email, or a text, or a Facebook message, or _anything._ She was desperate to hear from him.

Sighing a little, Clara stared at her computer screen and opened up her own Facebook, scrolling through pictures of her and Danny together. She missed him more than she could possibly imagine, and she missed him more every day. Nothing seemed right without him anymore. Wiping a few stray tears from her eyes, she tried to distract herself with some work. But it wasn't possible anymore. Leaving her laptop and tea on the coffee table, she stood up and went through to the kitchen, cracking open a bottle of wine and pouring herself a glass, staring blankly at the oven as she took a sip.

**AN **Oh God I'm so sorry I haven't updated in so long, but today I decided I was gonna kick my arse into gear and update my old fics, write some new ones, so I hope this is okay! As always, reviews would be highly appreciated, help me get back into the swing of things. Anyway, I hope I'll be writing more of this soon! Thanks for reading.


	5. Chapter 5

Clara woke up late the next morning, her head pounding. She had no idea how much she'd drunk the night before, but it was enough to have made her forget whatever it was she was trying to forget. Her body felt like lead and the last thing she wanted to do was get up and teach, but as she stared at the clock next to her bed, she knew that she'd have to. Rolling over with a sigh, Clara felt her heart fall. Danny still wasn't next to her, and that was all she wanted. Her boyfriend, her best friend, she needed him to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be okay. Because (and later on, she'd put this down to her hangover), she really wasn't sure that anything was going to be at all. It felt like her whole world had come crashing down, and all she'd done was roll over. Already, she could feel that today was going to be a long one, and the sense of optimism from yesterday was long since forgotten. She hoped that maybe her students would be able to cheer her up, remind her of the hope and happiness that she had been full of yesterday.

Of course, they couldn't. When Clara arrived into school, the teachers and pupils were just as unhappy as her. It was as if overnight something had sucked the little happiness they had let into their lives out all over again, and they were stuck to sitting in silence, too afraid to say anything and to hope for the best. Courtney wasn't in school again, with good reason. Clara didn't expect her to be in for the next few weeks, she wasn't going to miss much, and her mother would be much better company and comfort than anyone else could try to be.

# # #

Danny groaned in pain, rolling back behind the barricades and hitting the floor with a heavy thud. With power gone, there was no point in any of the men staying in their bases, so they had all been sent out. They had hoped that this might mean they could outflank the enemy, but it was evident they couldn't. Every day, Danny had seen his friends shot in front of him, men with families, children, wives, parents, so many people they were protecting, being shot down without hesitation. It had made him angry, and anger made his dangerous, to himself and to the enemy. But it seemed it was they who shot first this time, and now he lay on the ground in agony.

No one came to help him, but he didn't expect help. There were far too many people dead and dying all around him for people to try and help. And for all he knew, he might look dead. He might have even been dead. If he wasn't, he would be soon, of that he was sure. His hand was planted firmly over the wound on his left side, but he could feel the blood seeping through his fingers.

While he lay there in pain, Danny thought to himself silently. He thought about Clara, his sweet, funny, beautiful, clever Clara. God he didn't want to think about her, not now. It wasn't helping. It just made him upset, the thought of leaving her behind, and how many things he'd never get to say to her, how many things they'd never do together. He still had the ring in his pocket; he never left the base without him. It was in the hope that maybe luck would be on his side. Maybe, the enemy would know that he had the ring, that he hadn't proposed to the girl he loved just yet, and maybe they'd aim just a little to the left or right. It was selfish of him, he knew, but it gave him hope that maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to live long enough to let Clara know how much she meant to him. At the rate he was losing blood though, he wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to let Clara know anything again. Whether it be that they'd run out of milk, or that he loved her more than words could describe.

What Danny experienced next was the most wonderful thing he could, every single memory of him and Clara together flashing before his eyes. From the first time they offered a smile of good morning to each other, to the last time they kissed and held the other close. One last time, that's all he wanted. But he couldn't complain - they'd had so much time together. With a small smile, Danny's hand released its grip on his wound and he felt himself falling into unconsciousness's warm and comforting grip.

# # #

It was around lunchtime when Clara was called. The staffroom had been silent, teachers pretending to work hard on non-existent marking while they tried to keep their minds off what was happening. The positivity from yesterday had made everything seem so much worse, the silence that little bit quieter. It was as if a part of the school had died, and no one wanted that to have happened. After all, that could end up being a little more than just a metaphor with half the school at war. Clara couldn't help but let the smallest of smile's touch her face, trust an English teacher to focus on how the author was creating a sense of tension, or maybe even foreshadowing, through language. Her hangover was starting to wear off by that point, and she was wishing it hadn't. She'd liked being blissfully unaware of what she was trying to forget, and now remembering was painful. Danny. All she wanted was Danny. It was all she ever wanted and she had tried to forget what he was going through and how selfish she was being. She just had to teach, he had to fight and kill and stay alive. She had no right to want him back; at least, that's what she thought. With a heavy sigh, she went over to the corner to make herself a mug of tea. That was when she was called.

Her phone started to ring, and the teachers looked over to it. No one called anymore, at least, not with good news. Phone calls were always bad news. So when Clara heard the familiar ring tone, her heart stopped. Jerking her head around, she marched back to her seat and picked it up, staring at it for a few long moments before she dared to answer.

"H-hello?" She asked nervously, everyone's eyes on her. It made her feel sick to her stomach, and she simply couldn't be in there. Slowly, Clara left the room and listened to the person on the other line.

"It's about Danny."

**AN: **(So that feels like a suitable cliffhanger to end this chapter on! I'm getting back into this, so I hope you're all enjoying it. Please please _please _review! I want to know what you think will happen (or just if you liked it or not). Should have the next chapter up next Sunday, if not, poke me with a stick!)


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